Legal Validity
Full compliance with
Provisional Measure No. 2,200-2/2001
Is there legal validity in the digital signature?
Provisional Measure No. 2,200-2, sanctioned on August 24, 2001, institutes ICP-Brasil (Brazilian Public Key Infrastructure) to enable the issuance of Digital Certificates. In order to guarantee maintenance and put into practice the norms of ICP-Brasil, the ITI (National Institute of Information Technology) emerged, a federal autarchy linked to the Civil House of the Presidency of the Republic, which is a Root Certification Authority. MP 2,200-2, in addition to establishing a public infrastructure for issuing Digital Certificates, imposes legal validity on electronic documents and in the conduct of secure electronic transactions. To perform a Digital Signature it is necessary to use a Digital Certificate. Therefore, this type of signature has undeniable legal validity.
Is there a proof of authorship in the digital signature?
The Digital Signature strictly follows the properties of integrity, authenticity and non-repudiation.
Integrity: guarantee of unalterability in the document through a Cryptographic Summary;
Authenticity: use of a private key that guarantees authorship in an electronic document;
Non-repudiation: impossibility to deny the authenticity of the message because a private key was used to encrypt the documents.
Therefore, when making a Digital Signature, it becomes irrefutable not to recognize the authorship of the signature, since it is equated with a signature in one's own hand.
In Electronic Signature, is there also a Legal Validity?
Understand the difference between the two signatures. In short, only the Digital Signature requires the use of a Digital Certificate, however, Electronic Signature also has legal validity. The principle of freedom of forms, provided for in Article 107 of the civil code, emphasizes: "The validity of the declaration of will is not going to depend on the special form, except when the law expressly requires so." It is understood, therefore, that except in specific cases required by law, whenever there is a guarantee of integrity and authenticity of the document and recognition of both parties, any type of Electronic Signature is valid.
How to prove authorship in the electronic signature?
It is already known that the Digital Signature is the highest degree of evidential effectiveness, since the Digital Certificate can be considered a form of identity. However, MP No. 2,200-2 emphasizes in the following paragraph of article 10: “Provided in this Provisional Measure does not prevent the use of another means of proving the authorship and integrity of documents in electronic form, including those using certificates not issued by ICP -Brazil, as long as admitted by the parties as valid or accepted by the person to whom the document is opposed. Looking at the forms of Digital and Electronic Signature in the legal view, we can clearly identify important differences that affect the probative effectiveness. The burden of proof is also different. A better investigation of the legal basis of both forms is required here to decide, among the risks, which is the best alternative or its cost/benefit ratio.
Technical evidence at the QualiSign Portal
In the QualiSign Portal, it is possible to use both types of Subscriptions: Digital and Electronic. And when we talk about technical evidence, QualiSign provides several options for support and proof of authorship: access with login and password, SMS validation as a double authentication factor, time stamp, email with proof of delivery, traceability, among others.
E-mail with proof of delivery
One of the most efficient means that adds several technical evidences, is the email with proof of delivery, which is equivalent to a registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt (AR). Unlike physical form, this technology provides greater agility and economy. In addition, security is more robust, especially because it has the Time Stamp (Brazilian Legal Time, provided by the National Observatory). The e-mail with proof of delivery provides all the technical and legal evidence regarding its authorship, content, chronology, delivery and knowledge. Therefore, it can be used to send notifications such as order, collection, summons, agreement, among others. The technology guarantees the integrity of messages on receipt. Security is also preserved in the sending step, as a key is generated for each sender ensuring that only the sender will be able to trigger the emails. Learn more about the valid Email, a QualiSign electronic notification service.
